ABSTRACT
One of the last Delius projects to be undertaken before Beecham’s temporary disappearance from the musical scene in 1920 was his revival of A Village Romeo and Juliet. This had been intended for the autumn of 1919 but there was evidently some sort of misunderstanding between conductor and composer over various aspects of the production, and then other differences of a practical nature arose. On 12 November 1919 Beecham wrote to Delius:
(1) I told you last Summer … that I was giving your Opera this winter: that I was inserting the tableau scene we had discussed a long time ago, and in consideration of this substantial alteration in the presentation of the work I have felt justified in announcing it as a ‘revised version’. This is the only revision that has been made, not a note or bar of your music having been altered.
(2) With regard to the financial arrangements, I leave those to the business management. The latter have approached every publisher in London and apparently none of them either have material of your opera or are authorized to deal with us for it. You may have forgotten, but you undertook last Summer to see that fresh material was sent over to London from wherever your German publisher is, but up to the present nothing has arrived. I think you had better authorize some responsible person here to go into these matters with us without further delay, as otherwise the production of the opera may be jeopardised.
(3) I have advertised two performances only, because firstly, the present season is short with a large repertoire, and secondly because the work is given in the second half of the season. If successful it will of course take it’s [sic] place in the current repertoire and be played again next February. It will also be taken to Manchester for the Winter Season there in January.
(4) The rehearsals have been going on for some time in sectional form. Full rehearsals will begin in a few days time as soon as Parsifal is out of the way. I hope this information will satisfy you. I am sorry you should have been worried about the affair, evidently without much cause.
